Dangerous Hero by Tom Bower

Author:Tom Bower [Bower, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008299576
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

10

The Takeover

The climax of the four-month campaign was staged on Saturday, 12 September in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Westminster. The few Labour MPs who attended looked morose. Dressed in black, the staff of Labour headquarters appeared similarly depressed. Only Jeremy Corbyn had the air of a satisfied man. Dressed in a dark suit and open-necked blue shirt, he spoke with conviction about the ‘huge democratic exercise’, then repeated himself over five minutes about the ‘change’ prompted by his victory. Just forty-eight hours before the official result was declared, his rivals had conceded to the landslide. Out of the 422,664 votes cast, Corbyn won 59.5 per cent, Burnham 19, Cooper 17 and Kendall 4.5. Just 0.5 per cent of Britain’s population had resoundingly rejected Blairism. The Blairite MPs in the hall were jeered amid chants of ‘Old Labour not New Labour.’ ‘The party is on a road to nowhere,’ retorted David Blunkett, one of those present. ‘It’s a party deserting the voters.’

Fearing permanent destruction, the Old Guard shuddered at the inevitable move by Abbott, McDonnell and other Marxists from the back seats onto the front bench. Welcoming that prospect, Ed Miliband hailed ‘a great opportunity for our party’. Writing in London’s Evening Standard, David Hare judged Corbyn’s supporters as ‘united by a visceral loathing of David Cameron [who] belongs in a separate class of nastiness’. They voted for Corbyn, wrote the playwright, who occupied a large house in Hampstead, ‘because he belongs so unequivocally to those who hate Toryism from the gut’. ‘All piled in against Corbyn,’ gloated Ronan Bennett, the pro-IRA Irish writer once employed by Corbyn, ‘with frantic antics by Blair and Mandelson on the sidelines looking ever more ridiculous and irrelevant. And the joke ended up being on them.’ Before leaving the building, Corbyn took a call from Cameron. He politely accepted the prime minister’s congratulations and pledged to work with the government as leader of a loyal opposition.

At the nearby Sanctuary House hotel, supporters roared as their new leader arrived with Len McCluskey. In his speech to teachers, doctors and young professionals, the pale-faced victor held up a tea towel adorned with Tony Benn’s face. As usual, he spoke about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Durham Miners’ Gala, media intrusion, and giving power back to the trade unions. He embraced McCluskey, who had contributed money, accommodation and staff to his campaign, then sang his signature tune, ‘The Red Flag’. He made no mention of reuniting the party. After bidding farewell, he joined a refugee solidarity march through Westminster. His next stop was Labour headquarters in Victoria Street. Eating a baguette and looking dazed, he walked through a silent crowd fearful for their jobs. Oblivious, he spoke to Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary. The two antagonists had little to say. McNicol acknowledged that the left was now within the citadel, but pointedly told the new leader that he was subject to the party’s constitution. Corbyn nodded. He lacked the votes on the NEC to replace McNicol, but the party took second place to his 250,000 supporters.

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